About

Summary / An hybrid architecture (half for human and half for specific birds) on a tropical Land for only 10 years, corresponding to the time of the Pledges. As a backer, you can treat yourself to a stay in this architecture from one single night to a week per year during 10 years. This experimental "ecosophical" and "anthrosophical" lava emergence will be yours within this sharing, including the benefits of the breeding (bird nest soup). To make it possible, we involve architecture advanced technologies (for design and fabrication) with Robotics and Computation. The rewards are constitutive of the project itself, as the personal right to occupy the house (with contract), and on the side experiencing the Bird Nest health benefits (description below).You can see at the bottom of the page all the projects we already designed with, for some of them, a cohabitation Animal-Human. The following text is organized in 3 chapters / Architecture Project / Bird Nest Benefits / Bio-Technologies & Robotics

-1) A Human-Bird Mutualism for reciprocal benefits. (Mutualism is the way two organisms of different species exist in a relationship in which each individual benefits from the activity of the other).

2) A Time-Concept Sharing over 10 years, as an 'usufruct' transaction (including cleaning / laundry / maintenance of building and landscape / local services / see all the conditions below).

3) A Project of Architecture through several Innovations and Technologies with Computation and Robotic Fabrication to define a strategy of aesthetic in correspondence with the existing situation (expanding bio-foam with scrap wood… as a liquid rocky lava expansion). Through these Researches and Technics, the design will be developed in a "continuum morphology" (which organizes gradations between several identified structures) of the Biotopes (an equilibrium between Animal, Vegetal and Mineral) … an example of territorializing technologies.

Precision / The Swiftlet makes a new nest at each breeding season, thus the collection of the nest does not create any prejudice for the species.

// Architecture / Continuum Morphologies /

Pools / views

Morphogenesis

Idea / It's a three floors high construction with large crossing habitable volumes with huge windows (views on landscape). The project is developed as a "deformation-expansion" of an existing petrified Lava ''tongue'' (120m/426' long, 40m/132' large). The existing Lava ''swallows'' (as a metaphor) the House, for an hybrid geometry, dedicated to contrary forces and typologies between elements (the habitable volume versus the elastic petrified black skin). The design is a consequence of this tension, between living spaces and geology.

Material Expertise / Robotics / The core of the construction is made by a steel structure (steel post and steel balloon frame) with, as the external surface, a catenary mesh geometry joining all surfaces. The large windows are silver-coated laminated glass to protect from UV rays and reflect the landscape. Only half of them are fully transparent (human zones), the others (Swiftlet caves) are extremely dark, coated to keep the shadow atmosphere of a cave (including humidity). We will use a robotic extruder fixed on a scissor lift to make the Lava skin (in lightweight bio-expandable durable (10 years) foam / from starch-flax... in test period for now). Small scale tests and prototypes have already been done at the studio with our own Robot (Kuka 6 axes R10KR1100), as well as 3D printed models of the house.

Robotic - BioPlatic (Starch)

'Lava' Skin / Robot on Scissor Crane

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3D print / Black ABS

Project / Int. Design / The interior design will made in order to enable a multitude of successive occupancies / Simple and Comfortable / Large Stairs are the way to access from the ground floor (kitchen-garden room) to the second floor (lounge) to the third floor (two bedrooms with adjacent bathrooms) / Floor in polished Concrete / Transparent Stairs / Walls and Ceilings in white plaster / Efficient Natural Ventilation (Breathing Building + the house, thermally protected as a 'cave' by the Bio-Foam double facade) / AC available in case of exceptional heat / Open Areas with mosquito net protection / TV in Lounge / extra wall-bed on ground floor / each floor has direct access to farming (following conditions and timetable) / the Garden includes a platform with Swimming Pool, Shower and movable Bar / the housekeeper’s house will be designed later / it includes Laundry and Storage for Bicycle, Scooters and other stuff...

-Bird zones / Farming on 70m2/753ft² on 3 floors geometrically intricated with the living spaces (with one-way mirror glass to see the farming spaces from within the house). The access to the farming will be organized with the housekeeper to avoid prejudicial interference with bird biotope.

-The land is an 'Agriculture Land', with the right to operate Farming. The demolition, and removal of all residue of occupancy and construction at the end of the period of 10 years is also a condition to the land use rights.

First Floor

Second Floor

Third Floor

Principle / The building will be demolished after 10 years of occupancy, following the idea to share together an architecture which could be erased, which could die. The leasing contract will be made according to this period. The goal is to flatten the experience after 10 years, as a souvenir and recover the previous state of nature.

Location / Delta of Krabi, Thailand, in the middle of Geological emergencies, Green rainforest and Multiple Climbing possibilities (all levels) and so many other activities / Official Tourism website of the city http://www.krabi-tourism.com / The International Airport is 24 km away from MMYST location - 30 min - Cab Cost in 2015, 500THB=13$.

Statement / This architecture, both ecosophical (Felix Guattari) and anthroposophical (Rudolph Steiner), hybrid of the situation, kind of bio-morphism, negotiating space and time sharing, is voluntary promoted via a crowd-funding apparatus, to open another way than the traditional delegation of power of the architecture scene, where few people decide for the others...

As architects, we now have the opportunity to address with the multitude, through the networks, social media and bottom-up … This project and this crowd-funding initiative are like a pebble (a lava stone in our case) thrown in the pond of the temptation to redefine sharing, exchanges, with attitude, with design, with high degree of technology and ecosophy… in symbiosis, in osmosis… to test a possibility of exchange for the next 10 years. In the case of success of this initiative through Kickstarter, we will open more campaigns with other scenario-concepts (Altitude with 'Onsen' sources at 6,000 m high / Middle-of-Nowhere in an Urban Transgression Chaos / Dwelling in Primary Forest / Fragile Fabric Camp in Desert / Sharing space with Local Dwellers / … with a possibility of booking exchanges between them for all backers.

// The Swiftlet & its bird nest...

Bird Soup Tasting

Swiftlets cannot be domesticated … caging and trying to feed them will depress and kill them. Swiftlet farming strategy is thus to recreate the cave habitat through architecture and humidifiers, attracting the Swiftlets by sound and hormones, and letting them come and go and hunt insects as they please … and, being social creatures, they will bring their friends in.

The global world demand of bird nest is 200 tons per year. 55-60% is currently being fulfilled. Indonesia supplies 100 tons, Thailand supplies 20 tons, and Malaysia supplies 10 tons. The farming reduces the collection impact on nature.

Birds/Nest/Soup

Bird Nest / The authentic Bird Nest Soup is made from nests of a specific species of Swiftlet, mainly the edible-nest (or white-nest) Swiftlet (aerodramus fuciphagus) and the black-nest Swiftlet. Instead of twigs, feathers and straw, these Swiftlets make their nest only from strands of their saliva (which hardens when exposed to air) as a by-product of their nutritional way, flying by night over the canopy of the tropical forest to swallow fresh insect. Eating Swiftlet nest extract is believed to help maintain skin tone, balance qi ("life energy") and reinforce the immune system. It is also believed to strengthen the lungs and prevent coughs, improve the constitution and prolong life. The nutritional value of 100g of dry nest includes 49.9g of water-soluble protein (including amido nitrogen, monoamine nitrogen, non-amino nitrogen, arginine, humin, histidine, lysine and cysteine), 30.6g carbohydrate (glycoprotein and mucin), 4.9g iron, 2.5g inorganic salt (including potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur, phosphorus, silica and other elements), and 1.4g fiber (Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine, The History of Chinese Medicine and the Nutrition Table).

Precision / The Swiftlet genus Aerodramus is an echo-locating bird. They use echolocation to locate their roost in dark caves. Unlike a bat’s echolocation, Aerodramus swiftlets make clicking noises that are well within the human range of hearing. The clicks consist of two broad band pulses (3 - 10 kHz) separated by a slight pause (1 - 3 milliseconds). The inter-pulse periods (IPPs) are varied depending on the level of light; in darker situations the bird emits shorter IPPs, as obstacles become harder to see, and longer IPPs are observed when the bird nears the exit of the cave. This behavior is similar to that of bats as they approach targets. Swiftlets are insectivores; hymenopterans and dipterans being the most abundant prey. Typically, they leave the cave during the day to forage and return to their roost at night. Males and females look similar; as usual in such cases, these birds are monogamous and both partners take part in caring for the nestlings. Males perform aerial displays to attract females and mating occurs at the nest. The breeding season overlaps the wet season, which corresponds to an increased insect population. Clutch size depends on the location and the food source, but it is generally not large; Aerodramus swiftlets lay 1 to 2 eggs. The eggs are a dull white color and are laid every other day. Many if not all species are colonial nesters; some build their nests in high, dark corners on cave walls. Swiftlets in temperate zones do migrate, but most Aerodramus Swiftlets live in the tropical Indo-Pacific region and do not migrate. These birds usually remain in one cave or other roosting/nesting site. The genus Aerodramus is of special interest due to its use of echolocation and its intricately constructed saliva nests which in some species contain no other material such as feathers, moss or twigs and are collected. It has been argued that the high demand for these nests could have had an adverse effect on their populations but nest farming have increased the bird population. Swiftlet Farming already exists in Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Following the traditional techniques, we will use bird-sound lure and enhanced hormone to attract the young birds...

// Time-Concept-Sharing / 'USUFRUCTUS'

This project will be developed as a "time, space, concept" sharing during 10 years, where everybody get the right (use+fructus / usufruct) of using the location according to his/her own pledges. We already opened a New-Territories Ltd architecture company in Bangkok to support and organize the project, its Design, Bidding, Construction, and Completion. After 10 years the project will be demolished to come back to the original natural situation. An 'usufruct' contract between New-Territories Ltd Thailand and the backers will be finalized. The choice of dates and the global Calendar will be organized depending of the chronology of the pledges (but able to be modified and exchanged by backers directly on a later internet application).

Rules / The backers on 10 years (the last two pledges for a week-long stay) will have priority in choosing their own dates. All the 10 years backers will start "Usufructus" the first year of the opening. All the 3 years backers start their "Usufructus" within the first 3 years (the 3 years are then developed over 9 years).

Exchange of dates and booking between bakers is not only authorized but encouraged. It will be organized through a Doodle app. or similar, starting in June 2016, 6 months before the opening. The backers engage themselves to re-open their period to others if they are not using the spot. The 1-to-6 nights backers will be given the opportunity to choose and exchange their dates there. (on exchanges/renting/others... see below the conditions). If they want, two backers may share their time in order to extend their stay (with the maximum of 6 people in the house).

Usufruct /https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usufruct / Usufruct is a limited real right (or in rem right) found in civil-law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of usus and fructus: Usus (user) is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, directly and without altering it. Usufruct / In Thailand the Commercial and Civil Code was based on European civil code, also recognized the notion of usufruct at clauses 1417 to 1428. The usufruct can be done for a lifetime or for a maximum of 30 years according to the law (in our case 10 years). It needs to be registered at the local land department to have full effect on third parties, on title deed Nor Sor Sam or higher.

Right of use / Backers can -Use their usage time -Rent out their owned usage -Give their time as a gift -Donate their time to a charity -Exchange internally within the same Unit or Exchange externally with other Units (in case of several units developed by New-Territories with other concepts ... 5 are the goal) -Sell their time either through traditional or online advertising or by using a licensed broker - Deeded Usufruct rights can be transmitted.

Risks and challenges

There are more Challenges than Risks ...
Especially in the way we open architecture as a sharing, between a multitude of desires, as a trust in several stuttering directions: Architect, Clients, Friends, Backers... In this crowd-funding we take the challenge to develop an embedded design, dominated by and through the environment, the species, nature & natures... where architecture is planned as an artifact of the situation.
The management of the project is also a challenge, between Booking / Maintenance / House Keeping / Cleaning / … but the high quality of basic services in Thailand will help to make it possible.

As the risks, we could enumerate some hypothetical obstacles

1) A Land administrative problem, but other Lands with similar characteristics are available.
2) An increase of construction cost, but it's our job, as architects, to adapt design to economy.
3) Climate will change (that is sure) and water will raise of more than 3 meters on location / Robot strike and free themselves from operators,....no idea how to resolve those obstacles.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $9,999 or more
About $9,999

60 nights: 6 nights every year for 10 years in MMYST house for max. 4 people + one bird nest everyday + one trip by 'Junk boat' in the Andaman Golf 'at the pursuit of the poet Arthur Rimbaud' + direct contact with the architects to take part in the process of Design & Fabrication + visit of the construction site (travel expenses not included)
+ You will receive all 5 first rewards of lesser value as well